35 SKIN LIGHTENING PRODUCTS IDENTIFIED TO HAVE TOXIC MERCURY

Philippines toxics watchdog group Ecowaste Coalition is again cautioning consumers seeking a lighter skin tone from using products containing high levels of mercury, a chemical poison that poses toxic effects on the nervous, digestive and endocrine systems, and on the kidneys, lungs, and the skin itself.

The group has released a list of skin lightening products that it had purchased and screened for mercury, a majority of which were subsequently banned in 2024 by the Philippines and Thai authorities.

The list includes 35 skin lightening products from China, Indonesia, Pakistan and Thailand consisting of 23 brands, which are being sold mainly through online shopping and social media platforms.

Of the 35 products analysed, 15 had mercury way above 10,000 parts per million (ppm). Under the ASEAN Cosmetic Directive, mercury as a heavy metal contaminant cannot exceed the maximum limit of 1 ppm.

Out of the following 35 mercury-laced skin lighteners discovered and reported by the EcoWaste Coalition to the health authorities, the FDA-Philippines had banned 17 adulterated products and FDA-Thailand banned 12.

> From CHINA (7 products): BL Vterly Day & Night Cream, 1,701 ppm; Feique 2 in1 Lemon Whitening Anti-Wrinkle Face Cream Set, 311 ppm (day), 1,965 ppm (night); Feique Cucumber Whitening & Freckle-Eliminating Cream, 1,333 ppm (day), 3,100 ppm (night); Feique Green Tea Whitening Nourishing Anti-Freckle Set, 4,223 ppm (day), 5,487 ppm (night); Feique Herbal Extract Whitening Freckle Removing Cream, 11,320 ppm; Feique Snail Liquid Whitening Anti-Freckle Set, 8 ppm (day), 73 ppm (night); and Hua Shu Li Miracle Whitening & Anti-Freckle Set, 1,836 ppm (day), 2,132 ppm (night).

> From INDONESIA (4 products): Dr. Gold Super Quality +SPF30, 213 ppm; Fair & Lovely Day & Night Cream, 221 ppm; La Bella Day Cream, 245 ppm; and La Bella Night Cream, 400 ppm.

> From PAKISTAN (8 products): Aima Gold Beauty Cream, 19,020 ppm; Armena Gold Beauty Cream, 11,940 ppm; Faiza Beauty Cream, 7,110 ppm; Goree Gold 24K Beauty Cream, 25,700 ppm; Pure Pearl Beauty Cream, 27,200 ppm; Sandal Beauty Cream, 12,580 ppm; Zartaaj Beauty Cream, 14,130 ppm; and Zoya Gold Beauty Cream, 19,170 ppm.

> From THAILAND (16 products): 88 Whitening Night Cream (5 grams), 16,070 ppm; 88 Whitening Night Cream (20 grams), 3,521 ppm; Dr. Yanhee, 19,200 ppm (purple cream), purple plastic box container; Dr. Yanhee, 19,000 ppm (green cream), green plastic box container; Dr. Yanhee, 11,830 ppm (beige cream), gold plastic box container; Dr. Yanhee, 9,460 ppm (pink cream), pink plastic box container; Dr. Yanhee, 8,600 ppm (burnt orange cream), transparent plastic box container with blue label; Dr. Wuttisak, 17,950 ppm (cream #3), 15 ppm (cream #2) and 10 ppm (cream #4), blue label; Dr. Wuttisak, 11,200 (cream #3), 11 ppm (cream #2) and 9 ppm (cream #4), green label; Lady Gold Seaweed/Gluta Super Gluta Brightening, 44,540 ppm (beige cream); Meyyong Seaweeds Super Whitening, 3,784 ppm (green cream); Polla Gold Super White Perfects, 3,653 ppm; Pumepine Total White Underarm Cream, 2,248 ppm; Q-nic Care Whitening Night Cream, 4,113 ppm; Q-nic Care Underarm Whitening Cream, 6,109 ppm; and Snow White Armpit Whitening Underarm Cream, 3,042 ppm.

Using such products not only allows mercury to seep into the skin, people using these adulterated cosmetics are also exposing anyone at home, including young children, to mercury vapours, which can be inhaled and thus creating a two-fold exposure scenario through skin absorption and mercury vapour inhalation. People living together in places with poor ventilation are at greater risk when they breathe air and touch blankets, clothes, pillows, and towels contaminated with mercury, the group said.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the “adverse health effects of the inorganic mercury contained in skin lightening creams and soaps include kidney damage, skin rashes, skin discolouration and scarring, reduction in the skin’s resistance to bacterial and fungal infections, anxiety, depression, psychosis and peripheral neuropathy.”

Women, who are principally targeted for cosmetics that claim to lighten the skin tone, remove age spots, blemishes, freckles and wrinkles, and treat acne and other skin woes, are highly susceptible to the harmful effects of mercury exposure, especially if they are of childbearing age.

Numerous cases of mercury intoxication due to the use of mercury-laced cosmetics have been documented such as the case of a woman in California who fell into a coma in 2019, a woman in Minnesota who suffered from partial vision loss in 2022, and a woman in Hong Kong who was found in 2024 with proteinuria (presence of excess proteins in urine) due to prolonged use of skin lightening products with mercury content.

To protect users and non-users against multiple health problems linked to mercury exposure via contaminated cosmetics, the EcoWaste Coalition appealed to customs, health and trade regulators, as well as administrators of e-commerce and social media platforms, to undertake concerted action to stop the illegal entry, distribution and sale of adulterated cosmetics.

“The unabated production and trade of contraband skin lightening products with high mercury content that may classify them as mercury waste or hazardous waste, which should be disposed of in an environmentally sound manner, is a stark reminder of the unfinished job of eliminating these poisonous cosmetics,” the EcoWaste Coalition said in a press statement on 1 January 2025.

“Concerned governments, which are parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury, need to act with resolve and bring the persistent production, export and import of mercury-added cosmetics to a close this 2025 to protect human health and the ecosystems.”

“We can stop the illicit and unethical trade of cosmetics containing mercury, and put an end to the racist notion that equates beauty, cleanliness and success with being white,” the group said.

In August 2024, the group urged the FDA-Philippines to convene a solutions-focused national summit involving various stakeholders to tackle and solve the unlawful trade of cosmetics containing mercury. It also proposed an Asian summit to draw in other governments and stakeholders in developing a regional strategy to eliminate mercury cosmetics for good.